Descent
by tarballGZ
Summary: All it takes is a few well-placed words from Mephisto to make Yukio's sanity start slipping before they all invade the Illuminati lab. Soon enough, he begins exhibiting full demonic abilities. But then his power disappears and he's –mostly- human again. What is going on? Where did that power come from? (splits from canon at Ch 53, probably AU) (Legacy of the Twin Flames, Book 1/6)
1. Seed

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Exorcist.

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_Warning: The story starts out quite slow, but if you want to see Yukio snap, you're reading the right fic! If you want an eventual explanation of the Blue Eye Incident, you are ALSO reading the right fic! That's what I've set out to do here: drop hints about Yukio's eyes, and then finally reveal a possible explanation for what happened back then…and get into the demonic consequences, because those eyes aren't going away. You really can't do an IC manga-canon BEI-fic without breaking Yukio's psyche, (and I think you all want the latter more than the former) so..._

_Probably Hurt/Comfort, though not in a "romantic" way (hence the "drama" tag). _

_Anyway, this fic starts right at the end of chapter 52. I wrote this when chapter 52 was still the latest chapter in Japan, so several details will be totally wrong. Some changes are intentional to set off the AU, and will be left as they are, but the others will be revised. Sorry about that! Can you bear with my original chapter for now?_

_Storytime!_

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"So where is Izumo now?"

Rin broke the silence. Takara had finished telling his story of Izumo and her relationship to the Illuminati. Her involvement had been more complicated than they anticipated, it was not the story they were expecting. Shiemi was especially distressed. But Rin also wanted to hurry up and take her back, along with Shima. Takara dismissed Mike, and stuffed the incredibly-expensive puppet in his bag. Then he pointed to the Dream-Town Inari, the massive apartment complex across from the Inari Shrine.

"Down there." the puppet flapped its jaw.

"I could sense my tracker at that place. There are many underground levels in that complex. It is the lab that the bastard fox was talking about." it said matter-of-factly.

Suguro and Konekomaru couldn't help be annoyed by his attitude. Suguro couldn't help but want to punch him. But it wasn't the time for that right now.

"People live there! Attacking it would cause a huge commotion." Suguro said.

"Before that, we should report to Sir Pheles, he might have further orders." Yukio said.

Yukio walked over to the stairs and dialed a number. A flamboyant voice rang out on the other side of the line.

"Mephisto speaking!~"

Yukio reported the situation. First, he explained what he had heard from Mike about the Kamiki family, and that the Illuminati seemed to be using the power of the nine-tails in a bid for immortality. He further explained what they had all learned by talking to the tourists. Dream -Town seemed to bring fortune to those who lived there. The Inari gave people sort of unnatural attraction to it, but they only had a sneaking suspicion that the Illuminati was behind this without knowing any other details. Then he finished it off by saying "We've found the Illuminati lab, but it seems to be under the apartment complex. We can't attack it openly, unless we find a way to get rid of the residents, or enter the lab stealthily."

"Hm?~ Well, young children like yourselves can easily get around without attracting suspicion! I suppose just sending the six of you in worked out well."

"Surely you or the Order would have more experienced exorcists able to pull of covert operations, though?"

"Unfortunately, everyone is still busy dealing with the aftermath of the attacks."

"Yes….but…." Yukio was about to say that someone, _anyone _more experienced at this would be able to guide them through making the rescue. But then he remembered something. The exwires had rescued Rin before in Kyoto and broken him free, making it past the guards unnoticed. He had known it was Mephisto's work immediately. …Oh, of course.

"How did they break out Rin back in Kyoto? Do you know?" He asked pleasantly.

"Now, what makes you think I would know something like that? My business was to confine him, not release him!~" Mephisto said, knowing neither of them believed it.

"…."

Yukio put his hand on top of the receiver and moved the phone away from his ear.

'One question. How did you break Rin out of solitary confinement back in Kyoto?" He yelled the question in the general direction of the exwires.

"Shura gave us these jackets." Shiemi said.

"She called them camo-ponchos." Suguro added.

"Yeah. They made us invisible so no one could see us." Shiemi continued.

Yukio had thought as much. He turned back to the phone.

"So. Camo ponchos. The same ones you gave Shura. Something like that would be extremely handy right now."

"Could we seriously use something like that again?" Konekomaru asked the other exwires.

"That depends if we can get in contact with Ms. Kirigakure." Suguro said.

"Actually it sounds like they originally came from Sir Pheles." Konekomaru motioned over to where Yukio was silently listening to Mephisto.

"Unfortunately, as I have told Ms. Kirigakure, I have my hands full fixing the barrier around True Cross Academy. I'm afraid you have to rely on your own brains and means, Mr. Okumura." Mephisto said.

"Is it possible for us to just wait for you?"

"I am not sure how long it will take, and time is of the essence. In case of problems you have Takara and the son of Satan there with you, don't you? That should be enough." Going into a melodramatic dialogue, he said "Against all odds, the gifted hero uses his power to attack the lab, fight the evil mastermind, and save the damsel in distress! It's a story that I always find _so_ entertaining."

Yukio could practically hear him making overblown gestures over the phone. But he was disgusted. '_He sends us on a suicide mission because he thought it was 'entertaining'? This isn't a manga! Things never work out that well! He has to be plotting something'_

Then Mephisto became serious again (by his standards, at least). "But more importantly. Mr. Okumura. My mind has been occupied with something lately, as I'm sure yours has, too. Rin Okumura is not the only son of Satan on this mission. Perhaps there is something you can do as well?"

Yukio's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?" he said uneasily.

"I wonder. In any case, farewell!" Mephisto hung up.

_'He knows about my eyes'_ Yukio realized with a mixture of horror and shock._ 'He knows, and he's scheming something.'_ Yukio's thoughts raced as he lowered the phone. _'He knows even more than I do. He probably has all of the answers I need. Then why hasn't he told me?! What was he hinting by saying that? Have I already inherited the flames? But that's impossible. I'm tested every day, I was tested yesterday and they haven't found anything. I'm a human, he should know that too.'_

Rin noticed Yukio silently brewing over something, staring into the distance. So he got up and walked over to him.

"Hey. Yukio."

Rin attempted to put a hand on Yukio's shoulder, to turn him around. Yukio slapped it away, turning to Rin, and for a second he gave him an exceptionally tense, icily vicious glare. Yukio's mouth tightened, and Rin withdrew his hand, a bit apprehensive but mostly concerned. Yukio breathed, shut his eyes for a second, regained his composure, and smiled again.

'_What the hell is up with him?'_ Rin thought. _'It looks like relaxing at the festival didn't help him any. He wasn't this bad before. It's gotta be that thing he's hiding, messing him up. Ugh it pisses me off! If I ask again he's just going to brush me off… He doesn't rely on me at all!' _Rin felt bitter. As soon as this was over with he and Yukio were going to need to talk. He wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

Unnoticed, Takara observed Yukio silently, keeping a careful eye on him and considering something.

"So it seems we're alone in this. We have to rescue Kamiki ourselves. It seems Sir Pheles will not be able to lend us the same equipment everyone used in Kyoto. Or anything else, for that matter." Yukio had gone back to teacher-mode.

'_Or he simply won't.'_ He thought quietly. '_He knew that Ms. Kamiki would get kidnapped. Otherwise, Takara would never have had the chance to put that transmitter on her. How did he know? Why did he let it happen? Why send -us-? He had every reason to prepare a proper exorcist squad, or even demonic items that we could use to rescue her, if he really wanted her rescued. What the hell is he trying to do?!. _

"Um…maybe we can sneak through the air vents?" Shiemi suggested.

"That only works in movies. In real life they're too small to fit human beings." Konekomaru said.

Rin looked at Konekomaru. They both shared a moment of silence.

"You might fi-"

"_THEY'RE TOO SMALL EVEN FOR ME!_" Konekomaru flipped out. Rin realized he probably shouldn't mention Konekomaru's size again, ever.

"Ventilation systems...Underground..." Yukio said, thinking out loud. Then an expression of realization hit him.

"We could gas them! Put them to sleep with Etorphine or Atrophine! The concentration wouldn't be interrupted by air coming in from outside…."

"But we still need to do something about the residents. The gas will get back up into the apartments." Konekomaru said.

"Yeah… that's true. We would need to find a point in the vents where the air blows only into the underground levels, and then make sure old air is circulated out without affecting the other levels. We'd need to figure out the layout of the vents before knowing if this is safe to do." Yukio covered his mouth in thought.

Rin was visibly not fond of the idea. He'd rather just go in and fight his way through. He said as much.

"How about I just break in and rescue her?" Rin said with a toothy smile.

"Because we _don't_ know what measures they can take against demons, or what kind of familiars they have. " Yukio said, annoyed.

"I can get through all the wards, and holy water doesn't hurt that much."

"And you were unable to kill a single ghost alone. We need to do this as a team."

But the others were willing to go along with anything. The problem, they all realized, was that they had no way to keep the gas from affecting the wrong people.

"Then let's focus on the layout of their lab first." Yukio insisted as he began walking toward the stairs that led down to the street. "Sir Pheles said we had to do this as quickly as possible."

The others followed him. The mood was heavy again, the enjoyment from the festivities and the food had worn off. They went down the stairs and through the entryway of the observatory, making their way through the busy street toward the path that led to the shrine, and presumably to Dream-town. The shrine and the alley, and the apartment and the shrine were both connected by a single long, heavily shaded pathway with benches lined up along the path. The massive, and admittedly gaudy looking apartment building showed itself through the trees. As they walked closer, it started to tower above them. Before they had reached the entrance, they convened again. From that exchange, it was basically understood that they would go in as normal guests and look around. They would try to pinpoint cameras, avoid them if possible, and find any ventilation shafts. Shiemi's and Takara's familiars would enter through the shafts and survey the layout of the subterranean levels and find any links to the upper levels. They would also have to find any rotaries and understand how the air was circulated. Most likely, the layout for the Illuminati lab wouldn't have been found on the building plans in the municipal government's records and their office was certainly not nearby, so they couldn't look there. There was no time to waste by searching. If the doors were locked, they would pretend they had a friend living there and wait for an opportunity for someone to let them in.

Thankfully, the sliding doors weren't locked. On the contrary, the place seemed more like a hotel_. _There was a reception desk was off to the left, in the corner near a wide window. The lobby was a good seven or eight meters high, with a dimly lit chandelier in the center. There were two sets of old European-style lounge areas on each side of the entryway. All of the furniture was covered with expensive red velvet, and the legs had complex adornments with a golden fringe. The miniature round coffee tables in the middle of the furniture sets were cut from dark, polished oak. There were carpets in the entryway between the two lounge areas, leading up to a wall and splitting into two hallways on either side at the end. The carpet itself was decorated with white fox illustrations, ending at the base of the ten silver fox statues lined up against the edge of the opposite wall.

"Hello! Welcome to Dream-Town-Inari! How are you doing today?" A woman in her mid-twenties with black hair and a slick blue uniform asked from behind the desk.

"Is this your first time here? Would you like to look around? I can show you if you'd like. It's my job to be a guide for anyone interested in living near Inari!"

Several of them nodded slowly and smiled, a couple had hesitant looks, and Rin and Takara had blank faces. Tour guides. In an apartment building. This was not part of their plan. They all appreciated this, as maybe some new information would slip up about what the Illuminati were _doing_, but they also had to ditch or distract her quickly. Somehow.

"That's great! I am sure you'll love it here! Come with me."

The guide sauntered off from behind the desk and to the opposite side of the room, and looked expectantly. They all followed.

They didn't know what they were expecting. The woman talked, but had nothing useful to say. It was all about good luck brought by visiting Inari, better luck by living at Dream-Town, and full-time access to the great food nearby. Some of her lecture was also about the amenities of the apartment building and the size of the rooms. Unfortunately, here, so close to the lab, the exwires were limited in what they could ask, in case this woman knew more than she let on. So nothing important was asked during the exchange. They saw that there were many apartments on the first floor.

Konekomaru was the first to notice a vent shaft by one of the janitorial rooms. He nudged all of the others, one at a time, and pointed. Then he pointed at the guide. Yukio nodded, pointed at her, and nodded again. Yukio started a livelier conversation with the guide, asking about the date of the establishment (which they already knew at that point), and other such things. Meanwhile, the others slowed down. Thankfully there didn't seem to be a camera nearby, so they headed to work. Rin climbed on Suguro's shoulders and reached for the edges of the vent. He couldn't find any screws, so he just yanked the entire thing off. Yukio began to talk a bit louder and more enthusiastically in an attempt to keep the guide's attention.

He gave Rin a dirty look from the end of the hallway.

Rin shot a dirtier look back.

Takara summoned four familiars. One was a "Fashion Doll Mika: Catburgler" complete with a jet pack. He also summoned a similar "Jean" doll. Another seemed to be a miniature Knightmare Frame figure. His final figure was a Blue Fighter figurine. All four of his familiars climbed or flew up the two boys and went into the vent. Nii went with them. Rin slid the vent cover back horizontally into the opening..

"Oi. Hey! Put it back properly!" Suguro hissed.

Rin bit his lip and scrunched in his jaw. "It's not gonna fit! The wall's broken now!" Rin responded with a hushed voice. Indeed, small parts of the wall and some of the paint had come off with the vent cover.

"Then don't break the wall when you pull of off the vent in the first place!"

"How was I supposed to do that?! It was glued on!"

"Both of you, calm down." Koneko said with a hushed voice. "I don't think that the receptionists working the floor up here are Illuminati. But we don't have a lot of time before someone sees and they get suspicious. Hopefully we'll have finished by then. Just get down, quickly!"

Rin climbed back down. Yukio had already turned the corner with the guide, and was still engaging in pleasant conversation with her. The other exwires caught up with Yukio, and continued listening to the guide. Rin didn't do well with long-winded explanations, and was practically falling asleep on his feet. But the onslaught of words from the guide did do a lot to distract him from the matter with his brother.

The guide made a loop along the hallway, continuing her explanation, and then they arrived back at the lobby. The guide asked for their phone number and email to let them know if a space opened up. At first Yukio denied it, but she insisted. Yukio took the pen and paper and wrote down

Suprrrbikinigrrrl29 [yahooco-mail]

The guide gave him a strange look.

"Ah, it's for a friend of mine. She was originally supposed to be here, but something came up." Yukio smiled.

Indeed, that had been Shura's email address. Shura's very old, turn of the century email address that she didn't even know Yukio knew. He was quite sure she was embarrassed about it and didn't _want _him to know, which was exactly why he had used it. It had the added benefit of annoying her, and being hard for the Illuminati to figure out was connected to someone from the Order.

The guide took the paper and bowed. "Thank you for visiting! I hope you enjoyed the tour!"

"You're welcome!" The exwires said pleasantly at different, uncoordinated times, except for Rin, who was still plenty spaced out and simply smiled. Takara called her an 'Overbearing bitch' and walked out with the rest of them.

The exwires began to walk back down the shaded path. They had to distance themselves from the apartment complex first. They didn't want to loiter around and look too suspicious while they were discussing their plans and waiting for their familiars. They headed in the direction of the shrine. About 70 meters away, they stopped and sat down on one of the benches. Suguro and Shiemi sat down on short stone walls on opposite sides of the bench. They waited. Five minutes later, after a bit of an awkward silence:

"Seriously? We should be in there rescuing her by now. This is taking a really long time." Rin said, exasperated.

Shiemi giggled softly.

Yukio put a hand on his face and sighed. "That's why I said…" He began.

"I know. If we all don't work together we're not going to succeed in this, right? There really is a lot of stuff I can't beat alone." Rin said seriously.

Yukio looked at him, amazed, even happy. That's right, Rin was actually obeying orders, too. Was it the effect of the Seven Mysteries…?

"But still, why not something faster?"

'_Sigh…any improvement is good at all, I guess…'_

"All of you shut the fuck up, you're annoying. I need to concentrate" Takara said.

"You're the one that should shut up if you have nothing but bullshit to say!" Suguro said.

"Go to hell!" He snapped back.

'_Ah. This. If it's not one thing it's another. We're doomed.' _Yukio thought.

"Just sitting here in silence is going to be really awkward…" Konekomaru said.

"Just go over there!" Suguro yelled, pointing at the line of benches on the way to the shrine.

Takara must have believed this was a good idea, because he went over to a bench about 5 meters away, and sat in silence again. For about 15 minutes, the exwires began to have a casual conversation.

Meanwhile, Takara observed as his familiars descended deeper and deeper into the Illuminati's lab. Nii had gone to check the first few levels of the apartments, and then also descended. The Jean doll, however, poofed out of existence when it reached the 8th floor. Takara wasn't surprised. He went over to the exwires.

"They have demon wards starting from the 8th underground floor down." Takara said.

"Eh? You can sense that?" Shiemi said with disbelief. She was having trouble even telling what Nii was doing. She looked down, embarrassed. She promised herself that she would try harder in the future.

"Yes. I also lost contact with doll I summoned for Kamiki several hours ago. She is contained in one of those rooms. Let me see if there are ways through the wards."

Blue Fighter, the Knightmare Frame, and Mika descended to the same spot. Takara made sure not to make them follow the same path that Jean did. The Knightmare Frame ran along and above the hallways, Blue Fighter and Mika took paths into some of the rooms. Takara had a lot of luck with the Knightmare Frame's route, but after a few rooms each, Mika and Blue Fighter had both disappeared. A few moments later, when Nii had reached those levels, he disappeared too. The Knightmare Frame was actually able to make it all the way down to the bottom of the lab. However, this had taken another 20 minutes.

"It's only the rooms. The hallways are not warded. Also, there are 14 underground levels." Takara finally said.

With a poof, the Knightmare Frame disappeared from its place in the vent.

"I feel the layout of the lab now." Takara continued.

Shiemi took out her summoning circle, bit her finger, and summoned Nii.

"Nii!"

"Hey…!" she cooed, smiling. Then she looked up at Takara.

'I wish I could do that…See what Nii sees." she thought solemnly.

Sensing her wishes, Nii jumped about a meter away and landed on the pavement. Exclaiming 'Nii' loudly, he generated a complex cube of tree and plant roots, around 120 cm high and 200cm across. Intermixed, jutting through the middle and around the sides of the roots were deep red stems of pokeweed, and in several places along the pokeweed structure the berries bloomed. The structure was actually split into two halves, one longer than the other. The longer half also had higher roots, and darker, possibly to represent Dream-Town. The layout of the building in the subterranean levels below it consisted of smaller rooms circulating around large auditoriums, one above the other, each a few stories high. The other half had no surface level, but it _did _have berries on the surface in several places. The halls and rooms were arranged in a more traditional structure, with a central hallway, and split hallways in a square shape, which combined together to form the kanji for "naka" (中)

"Nii…?" Shiemi gasped.

"So you're not a _total _good-for-nothing." Takara said.

"Is this the layout of the building?" Yukio said slowly, examining it.

"The red stems must be air shafts. And if that's so…then these berries are conductors…" Konekomaru added.

"It's still missing levels. The little green midget bastard didn't make it down all the way." Takara said

Shiemi looked hurt. "…Don't insult Nii." She said under her breath, as she glowered at Takara and learned what 'dislike' felt like for the first time in her life.

He ignored her.

"Here."

Takara's puppet traced a finger along at the bottom of the root system.

"The layout of these floors is the same as the upper ones." He motioned with his finger in the air 6 times, moving downward, indicating the as-of-yet invisible 8th-13th floors below Dream-Town. Nii generated them, following his fingers. "The 14th floor is different. There are two large rooms in the upper right-hand corner. Possibly the living quarters of someone important." Takara pointed to the corner on the side away from the exwires.

"And this side." He pointed to the shorter cube, indicating the section that wasn't under the apartment building. "It runs on a separate circulation system. The air circulation through this one is stronger. The air is carried around the perimeter of the building through these vents. Then it goes into these vents that cross the center of the building." He pointed at the pokeweed that ran through a square, a little bit inward. Then he motioned towards the pokeweed branches that connected the ones around the perimeter of the building through the center. "However, some air is cycled into the lab through a circulation system within the apartment building. That's up here." Takara motioned to the center of the apartment building in one of the janitorial rooms, the berries there, and the branch that moved downward. "There is also air circulating out, into the apartment building, in five spots." He pointed to five places, including an area by the lobby.

"We need to siphon that air out, somehow. Shiemi should probably focus on that. Takara's familiars can carry gas canisters into the rotaries on the other section." Yukio said. He sighed. "And we are going to need a _lot_ of gas. I have a Link Key, so I'm still able to get to the armory at the True Cross Academy and return here with supplies. Etorphine is the stronger chemical, in intravenous forms it can knock out an elephant, so it would be a safer bet to go with the gaseous version of it and use lower doses. We're also going to be making our attack from two different directions, so I'll need to bring some canisters to the cram school before I come back. Those of you who go into the apartment will be able to pick up the canisters from there using your keys. We won't be able to move around well with that many canisters, and I don't remember seeing any matching doors in the apartment, so can you all help me scout the area for doors that might be a bit closer to the other rotaries? "

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Whatever."

"How long is this going to take?" Rin was dying of boredom.

They walked back toward Dream-Town, except when they neared the building they took a left onto a narrower alleyway. This was also completely shaded by trees. They were not having any luck. The area around Dream-Town was quite rural. In other words.

"We really can't find anything!" Rin grabbed at his hair in frustration.

"I guess we'll just have to go in the other way?" Shiemi said.

"It's going to be a lot slower."

"But not impossible. It would have been better to mount our attack from here, but we can still do it from in the apartment using Takara's familiars. We're going to need at least 30…"

"Let me help too!" Shiemi interrupted.

"Excuse me?"

"Let me help! I'll try to summon more greenmen." Shiemi's eyes shone with determination. "And I'll try to be able to sense them too!"

'_If I can do this, I'll get stronger! I have to get stronger so he doesn't call Nii rude things! I can't lose to him.'_ She thought.

"Shiemi…I don't think… No, nevermind. If you could summon more than one familiar, that would be really helpful. But your greenmen should focus on redirecting the external air."

"_I don't think that's the ability of an ordinary tamer." _Yukio thought.

"In any case, I can't use a link key to connect the armory to the apartment doors, so we're going to have to do it through the school… I'll need some time to prepare." He continued.

They headed back to the apartments, back toward the shrine, intending to head toward the foxes' alley again. Yukio needed a wood door. Naturally the exwires began talking amongst themselves again.

"It's so pretty out here. Izumo is lucky." Shiemi said

"It reminds me of the summer camp." Rin said.

"It's not like we went there to relax back then….And we didn't come here to relax now. We've got to set Shima straight. " said Suguro.

"He'll come back. I'm sure of it. He runs away from things a lot. But when it really matters, he'll come back. He saved my life when we were fighting the Impure King." Konekomaru said, wearing a heavy expression.

"So that's why you trust him?" Yukio asked.

"I trust him because I think I know why he did this… He grew up in the Shima family even though he's that sort of easygoing person. The Shimas are dedicated members of Myou-Da. It doesn't look like he wants to be a part of that, but his family expects it of him. Everything I've seen of him leads me to think he's fed up with it, because he has no motivation. His parents have realized that too. So they've stopped treating him as well as their other sons."

'_Family expectations again…is it?' _The story was a bit different, but it had shades of Toudou. And shades of his own worries as well. Shades of Toudou was bad. If Shima had shades of Toudou, then he was most likely gone for good.

'_Ignored? By his own parents?_' Rin thought, appearing concerned. Shima had seemed like a happy-go-lucky guy, the kind that didn't even care if someone called him uncool. Was he smiling and faking that as well?

"Just those reasons could have been enough to turn him traitor. Are you prepared to face that reality?" Yukio said. After all, it was too much like Toudou. And Toudou was unsalvageable.

"Heis _not _a traitor_. _He's just lost." Konekomaru insisted.

"The Illuminati has a way of attracting people who can't meet the expectations of the people around them. There's a chance he's too far gone."

"And how do you know _that_?!" Konekomaru snapped.

"That's not something I have the privilege to share. But depending on his answer we might have to turn him into the Order as a prisoner."

"Yukio, what the hell?! Shima's our friend! We're taking him back! And there's no way I'll let you hand him over!" Rin yelled.

"I feel the same!" Konekomaru yelled with an unusual sharpness in his voice.

"The Order does not know of this yet!" Takara interjected.

Yukio stared at them with a steely expression in his eyes. "What he is….is a danger if he's left to do whatever he wants in the academy."

"I _know _my eyes! And they aren't wrong!"

Yukio's expression got even colder. "Your eyes were already fooled once. Shima has proven himself to be an excellent liar, and he will lie again."

"You've known him for 8 months. We've known him our entire lives. The _Order _doesn't know _anything _yet. And if Sir Pheles doesn't say anything they won't. And if they don't, they don't need to because it will just cause problems!" Konekomaru's desperation showed through. The desperation to protect one of his lifelong friends, he realized, was something he would go to any lengths to uphold.

"That's TREASON. No, setting aside that we don't know what the rest of the Order knows at this point, just saying that could get you excommunicated! And if you continue this I will see to it that you _are_." Yukio threatened.

Rin punched a nearby tree out of anger.

"What is WRONG with you!?" Rin screamed. "Now it's Konekomaru?! Listen, I know you're always going on about how I'm not doing this or that or yadda yadda and you've always got a stick up your ass. But you've never, never been this bad with anyone else. Aren't they your friends too?! Even Shima!"

"I'm an exorcist! I'm doing my duty! Duty trumps friendship, and right now Shima is an enemy! So they are being a danger!"

"Like hell they are!"

"They are. They really are." Yukio laughed a bit. "I get it now. Sir Pheles sent us because we would be the only ones stupid enough to bring back the traitor. He's a schemer. Maybe they'll both trick us into trusting them while they hide the defection and pull something again. Or maybe Shima is just one of Sir Pheles's people. Maybe it's both! Mephisto's a demon! Do you really think he's on the side of humanity? You heard it right? He knew this would happen. And he's a Demon King! They're probably all working under Satan!"

_And he wants to turn me into a demon and make me lose myself to Satan's power._

Rin caught a glimpse of Yukio's expression as Yukio raised his chin a slight degree. Wide eyed. Crazed. Completely insane. Yukio had no control of himself any more. '_Something is seriously, seriously wrong with him. This is worse than I thought! Jeez, Yukio you stupid…' _"You're crazy!" He exclaimed. "You've gone absolutely off-the-walls crazy! Whatever your problem is it's rotting your head!"

"I don't have a problem!" Yukio exclaimed back. "I'm the only sane one here!"

They had reached the Foxes' Alley, and continued yelling at each other in the midst of the crowded street. Others stopped chewing their food and talking to stare at the fight.

"Sounds like crazy to me!"

"Because you don't listen and you ignore it while you let the people around you manipulate you! Like Sir Pheles, and like him!" Yukio's voice quickened as he pointed to Takara.

"Fuck you, you babbling idiot." Takara replied.

"No one's manipulating me into saving Shima! Not the clown, and not anyone else. I am doing this because I want to do it! That's all!"

"Heh….can you really say that? You're too simple. You just don't realize it when people are using you. Takara staged _all _of this. He knew about Ms. Kamiki ahead of time and he did _nothing_. Ask him how he got that transmitter on her. I dare you."

Suguro looked at Takara. '_Dude's definitely suspicious …. Mr. Okumura's right about that much….'_

They had reached a door. Yukio looked at all of them.

"That goes for all of you. I hope you've come to your senses by the time I get back. And you, Takara. I might not send you with Shima if you do your duty and help the others without betraying them."

With that, Yukio left for the True Cross Academy Armory.

* * *

_Oh wow! Chapter one is finished! And it took me….like a month. ;O OMG sqeee I am so happy it's even published at all! _

_I just want to start off by thanking themoonlandian, SuperiorDimwit, and Earthforge. Without you this story would never have become a reality! Thanks for the encouragement, beta-ing, beta-beta-ing, and tolerating my spam of PMs about nearly everything. It made such a huge difference in the quality of my writing so I can't thank you enough!_

_Some notes:_

_With the exception of "Toudou" I will use VIZ terminology. I'm mostly doing this because it feels unnatural to use honorifics…I may regret that later but I don't want to bother with the specifics, and I don't want to keep track of who uses which honorific for which person. Also, being able to say "He's fallen to an X!" and "infected with Temptaint!" is cool. But I don't like romanizing Toudou as Todo._

_And sorry for the..uh…fairly cliche mode of attacking the lab. I am not the sort of person to invent intelligent ways for a bunch of teenagers to attack well-armed and well guarded terrorist bunkers. Yukio might have thought of something, but unfortunately he can only be as smart as his author. Sorry Yukio! I was quite sure "Rin attacks the place head on and rescues Izumo with his Satany Flames" was NOT what Katou Kazue had planned. So I didn't consider that an option either._

_(Except that's what happened in chapter 54. Well, okay. Fear not, I have an explanation! The difference in strategy between Yukio here and Yukio in canon is because Canon!Yukio believes backup is coming, and has been pressed into invading by circumstances. Yukio here knows backup is not coming, and that Mephisto is pushing him to rely on Rin's (and perhaps his own) flames. They're all also invading well before Izumo is pressed into defending herself.)_

_I was told it would be better to start off directly with the Illuminati attack rather than snap my fingers and say "They rescued Izumo! Now onto Yukio (and the stuff that will happen in chapters 2 & 3)!" So that's what I did, and I couldn't do it properly without starting from the then-current manga chapter (52). There are some timing differences between this fic and manga-canon. Mike leaves, and Takara has a better idea where the lab entrance is (I still think he knew anyway). Mephisto, of course, sets Yukio off in ways that Canon!Yukio hasn't been messed with (yet). I have no excuse for the structure of Dream-Town, because when I wrote this I thought it would be an apartment building. I wrote this before I knew it would take 10 hours to get there on foot (which will have a solution in future revisions). The zombies and experiments hadn't been revealed yet. _

_Also, I am a slow writer. I'm someone for whom words never flow easily…so it is difficult and time-consuming to write stuff. Expect at least 1-2 month breaks between chapters. _

_Review please? ^^_


	2. Breaking Point

_A/N: 10,000+ words this chapter, HOLY SHIT. Again, some facts are wrong because this was written before chapter 54 was released. Hopefully I got away with making some small changes to this chapter at the last moment. Like chapter 1, this chapter will be revised to reflect canon sometime later. This is what happens when you take a month to write chapters, and move at about the same pace as the manga itself..._

_Disclaimer: I REALLY don't own Ao no Exorcist._

* * *

The exwires stood in the middle of the crowded street, with everyone's attention pinned on them.

"What…the hell. Don't just walk off like that. We weren't done talking yet!" Rin scoffed and kicked the door. Just getting up and leaving in the middle of an argument. That was beyond rude.

Suguro didn't notice the crowd, absorbed instead in his own thoughts. Shima needed to be punished. He wanted to be the one to do it himself. They had grown up like brothers! Family! You don't do that to family! What would Kinzou and Juuzou say if they learnt he had joined the Illuminati?! What would Yaozou say?! It was like the Impure King all over again. But this wasn't like it was with Mamushi. …Or….was it?

Konekomaru, on the other hand, knew there were small-scale matters, and there were large-scale matters. Smaller pieces shaped to fit together in the larger whole. The first piece. Takara Nemu was really a senior exorcist hired by Sir Pheles from a third party, watching their class since April. He had no immediately discernable connection to Shima, and was probably not the reason Shima turned traitor. Shima was a single, small piece of the puzzle, he was fairly certain of that. He was connected to both the Order and the Illuminati; friends with he and the other exwires, while also tied to the Illuminati by allegiance. Was the juxtaposition important? Or mere coincidence? More importantly, it seemed Kamiki's kidnapping was the central piece: involving the motives of Shima and the Illuminati, and Takara and Sir Pheles. Was it really planned, like Mr. Okumura said?

Konekomaru was too honest to be manipulative, but he _was_ incredibly observant. So when the others had been too shocked or preoccupied to take note of who Sir Pheles really was, he heard and remembered. The head of the Japanese branch of the Order was a Demon King, the 3rd most powerful demon in existence, and the brother of the head of Illuminati. Demon brothers who may have fallen out with each other, if their exchange was to be believed. Yet Sir Pheles had just sent a group of exwires on a mission they were hardly qualified for; right into the Illuminati base.

Had he been in a situation that he could calmly distance himself from to think, he might have given more concern to what was definitely a scheme on the part of Sir Pheles. But the flow of events was outside of his control, and he could neither not grasp nor halt them. Even if it were only this one tiny piece… He could play into Sir Pheles'… no, Samael's hands. Just in this one matter. He could figure out what Samael wanted…perhaps in the future, once Shima was with them again.

He needed to do this; his emotions told him so. They took control. He was a stable person normally… but not for this. It didn't matter what Mr. Okumura said or wanted. Although he felt guilt-ridden for thinking such things. '_What kind of leader leads people into a trap on purpose…?!'_

But that still didn't make Takara or Sir Pheles any more trustworthy. Both Suguro and Konekomaru eventually reached this sort of thought.

Shiemi couldn't stand the thought of Takara hurting Izumo, her friend. Her dissatisfaction was on the tip of her tongue. Takara was horrible and did horrible things. First Nii and now Izumo! She didn't have the confidence to say anything… She would need to build up that confidence. Right now. Right now. Right now…..!

For all three of them, it took mere seconds to contemplate such thoughts.

"Why are _we_ the ones on this mission?" Konekomaru asked Takara as he gritted his teeth.

"You let…" Shiemi started. "Izumo get hurt?! _Why?_" She began to raise her voice, something she almost never did. Tears formed in her eyes.

"You couldn't be any stupider if you actually think Sir Pheles is cooperating with the Illuminati like that bastard said. But you are correct that this kidnapping was allowed to happen, and I was present at the time."

Shiemi was horrified.

"However, we did so for the purpose of tracking her here and rooting out the spy in the Japanese branch. Even the King of Time and Space is not omnipotent. He cannot find or see something if he does not know where to look. This is where my summoning abilities were needed. If he were truly on the side of the Illuminati, he would not have drawn suspicion to himself by doing something as noteworthy as sending you."

"Please answer the question. Then why did he send us?!" Konekomaru wasn't convinced by the sidetrack.

"Matters of availability." Takara responded

Konekomaru wasn't happy with this response. "Doesn't that contradict what you just said? You make it sound like he had no choice but to send us either way…"

"He could have let the matter slide just as easily."

"He would never have been pressed into doing that, because he knew ahead of time, and had more than enough time to warn people!"

"The scale of the attack was beyond what was expected. There are no counterattack troops. Just you losers. We didn't plan it, shut up and stop complaining. You have no option but to rely on me anyway."

_'So…this is something Sir Pheles planned to a certain extent ahead of time, and allowed to happen even though he could have stopped it…this is bad! And he sent us on purpose! But still…Shima!' _Konekomaru thought.

Rin grabbed Takara. "Let me tell you something. We'll do what you want, but it's not because you convinced us! And tell Mephisto when we're done I'm going to punch him really hard!"

This wasn't just because of this stupid plot or manipulation that he didn't fully understand. Mephisto was a suspicious bastard after all. Rin knew that. It was about Yukio too. He had been weirder once he had gotten off the phone with Mephisto. Yukio was being nasty, and pissing everyone off. That wasn't usual for him. That phone call was probably…no, whatever Mephisto said to him must be a big part of what set him off so badly.

"Okumura is right. We can't leave Shima alone. I won't let the Order take him. But I don't trust you either", Konekomaru said.

"You're…going along with him..?" Shiemi gaped. She wanted to save Izumo, but she was the one that liked this least of all.

The True Cross Armory was contained within, and below, three identical buildings with small slitted windows near the top of the Academy hill. Yukio entered through a nondescript wooden door, similar to the one in the food stall he just left. He arrived in one of the lower stories, into a stone room dimly lit by incandescent light. Shadows of crossbows, shotguns, pistols, and swords flickered across the wall, above the weapons lined up in heavily condensed rows along the walls. The weapons room, where unused weapons were stocked until they were assigned to an exorcist. This wasn't the room he wanted. But it was the room he imagined when he used the key, so it was the room he arrived in. Yukio turned and briskly went back through the door, this time without opening a magic portal. The room he wanted was at the end of the hallway. It was a similar, smaller stone room with metal shelves. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a wheeled cabinet he could use to roll the grenades through, which he would probably need to use since the keys had an object limit. The Etorphine grenades were in the far left corner, near the tranquilizers. Yukio tensed up.

There were not enough grenades. Not enough for an area the size of the Illuminati lab.

What he saw here would cover about three quarters, if he was lucky. Half was a safer bet. He had enough to fill five of the cabinets.

'_Why?'_

'_Why isn't there enough here?!'_

Mephisto's phone call flashed through Yukio's mind.

_-"Against all odds, the gifted hero uses his power to attack the lab, fight the evil mastermind, and save the damsel in distress! It's a story that I always find so entertaining."- _

_-" Rin Okumura is not the only son of Satan on this mission."- _

'_No way…. No…. Did Sir Pheles do this?! Does he want to make things more 'entertaining'?!' _

Yukio dwelled anxiously over the possibility. Then he stopped himself.

'_I never told Sir Pheles about this plan.' _Yukio tried to calm himself down. '_So it's fine.'_

'_Did Takara contact him afterward…? No. I saw him. I was watching him the entire time. Takara didn't do anything.'_

Takara's unique familiar-sensing abilities popped into Yukio's head.

'_No….Takara is a demon. Takara is certainly a demon. Who knows what he could have done. There are any number of ways he could have contacted Sir Pheles without me being aware of it.'_

'_Sir Pheles….no, Samael.' _Yukio reminded himself._ 'He is Samael, the King of Time and Space. Samael, the clairvoyant, teleporting, shape-shifting, time-stopping demon. Takara doesn't need any other abilities! Sir Pheles could have stopped time so Takara could call him! He could be spying on all of us directly! He could do any number of things to learn about what I was planning. He is controlling everything. We are on a one-way path to whatever his final objectives are…It doesn't just start or end with me. Rin, the Illuminati, Kamiki, the exwires, we are all…!'_

Yukio sighed and slammed his fist into the stone wall.

'_BREATHE!'_ He tried to regain control of his thoughts.

'_Breathe. Calm down. Get a hold of yourself.' _Yukio controlled his breath, meditatively, until he could think clearly. '_It doesn't matter if he took the gas or not. You have other resources. You can improvise. He cannot control your thoughts. Your thoughts are what control your actions, not him. Think.' _Yukio considered new possibilities. _'Should I supplement with other chemicals?' _He shook the thought from his head. '_No, that would be extremely dangerous, the effects would be unknown.'_ But he needed something. Something that wasn't gas. Something that wasn't a tranquilizer. Something that could make things easy… Something that wouldn't mix horribly with a gas. Anything in the world…

No, not anything from _this _world. It didn't need to be from this world.

Gehenna had demonic things. Things that would not normally possess something in Assiah on their own. Things that needed to be summoned. Could be summoned, through Shiemi's greenmen.

_Obidormio Inferni_.

An incredibly potent fungus from Gehenna, with spores that could knock a human out in minutes if inhaled.

A fungus from Gehenna that they could ward themselves against.

The upper floors of the Illuminati lab weren't charmed against demons…or demonic plants. If they could flood those floors with Obidormio Inferni, they could make up for the lack of Etorphine.

_Should I use something like this? _Yukio thought. He pondered. He felt he didn't have a choice.

He did need the grenades for areas that were charmed against demons. So Yukio piled what grenades there were in the room onto five different cases. He moved them over to the door, opened a portal to the cram school, and shoved the cases in. He could only put one case through at a time, repeatedly opening and closing the door every time he shoved a new case through. They would be able to access the grenades through any door now. Now all he needed to do was go back to the food stall.

It was dark out. He had spent about an hour and a half in the armory. The exwires were sitting at a booth in the stall across the street. They looked tense.

Rin, and Konekomaru turned to look at him. Konekomaru glared at him.

"You're not still planning to send him off somewhere, right?" Rin asked quickly.

Yukio had some time to cool his head while he had been gone. He never should have brought this up. He never would have, if he had been thinking clearly to begin with. It was causing discord. That was the last thing he needed. It could get them all killed. Make amends...

"...No" he said. "I won't"

...Even if he had to lie.

"I had nothing to do with this. You did it on your own, and I wasn't aware. You used a key and sent him through while I wasn't looking. Just so we are clear."

_...Or was that Mephisto Pheles' plan as well?_ If he calmed the exwires down now, and went back on his word, it would just make it worse later. From that point Mephisto would have opportunities to take advantage of the distrust to put them in a similarly hopeless situation in the future.

Konekomaru relaxed a little.

"We won't just bring him back. We're going to interrogate him ourselves. If it turns out he really meant everything he's done... If he isn't being manipulated or something…The higher ups can have him." Suguro looked determined.

"Why...suddenly?"

"Because he has to have a reason for this! And if he's being manipulated that reason'll come out. And Konekomaru and I will be able to tell. If he's not...then he's not the Shima we knew. And if that happens….!" Suguro rubbed his temples in frustration. He never managed to finish his sentence.

"Shiemi wanted us to wait and see. You don't need to continue trusting him after this. If I am wrong...Tell them to excommunicate him." Konekomaru said shakily. "That's something he would want as well. That's all I ask. As his friend."

"I...see. I can do that." That, he could do.

Yukio looked over at Takara. He hoped that wasn't in the boy's plan. Watch him. Try to figure out what else he was planning. But. If he wanted them all dead. Discord could have fit in well with his plans. If he wanted to press them all into a hopeless situation. Coordination did not. So coordination was the first step.

Next step: see how much the exwires trusted Takara. Had they believed him? The less they trusted him, the less manipulate-able they were.

"I've prepared everything. We should go back to the apartment building as soon as we can."

They got up. Funny, even though it was night, the crowd hadn't dispersed at all. Along the foxes' alley, the people were still packed densely. The decorations all around them lit up the street to almost daylight levels. They proceeded through it, back along the way to Dream-Town...After reaching quieter areas, Yukio would talk to Shiemi first.

Yes. Talk to Shiemi. Talking to her would calm him down. He thought.

Talk to...augh. He couldn't talk to Shiemi after he exploded earlier. He couldn't talk to her about something like this. She looked depressed already. He didn't want to make her mood worse. He had messed up. He was hurting her, he thought with regret. Yukio walked by her silently. He kept his face like stone.

Not Miwa. Definitely not Rin. Perhaps Suguro. Then Shiemi. Once he built up the confidence.

"Yuki?"

Yukio looked back at her. "Huh?"

Shiemi looked worried. It pained Yukio to look at her like this. So he looked away and walked further ahead.

"Yuki!"

She caught his attention. He turned around and stopped. Shiemi caught up to him. They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds.

"…I want everyone to stop fighting. I don't want Izumo to get hurt. I don't want to see Suguro and Rin and Konekomaru and you fighting…You too! Please."

"Ah…I'm sorry…"

"…Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"That's a lie!"

Yukio widened his eyes, surprised.

"Please tell me the truth…_Please_." Shiemi stiffened up, tightened her grip on nothing in particular.

He almost wanted to tell her. Telling her, but before that admitting it to himself. Telling her everything. Mephisto's machinations, his eyes, the Order watching him, binding him to contracts, spies under him, worrying every day that Rin's life could end soon because of the stupid things he does...Takara. That would be admitting that it bothered him. But he needed to be strong. He had the responsibilities of an exorcist. He couldn't let anything show.

… Though Some of it had leaked out already. He couldn't go back.

"….It's just stress. I'm not used to leading people through a dangerous mission like this. I'll be better about it." Yukio put on his best fake smile. "And I really don't trust Takara." He added quietly. He might as well see what her response was while he had the opportunity. But that was only half the reason. He wanted to talk to her.

"I don't either."

"You…don't?"

"He said he let Izumo get taken. Right in front of me."

'_She's…my ally in this.' _Yukio felt brighter.

'_Although…is she?'_ Those paranoid thoughts, again._ 'No, this is Shiemi! She is! Definitely!'_

"I see. I have a plan. I don't want to tell Takara or the others yet. How many familiars can you summon? How much can you do with them?"

"Eh?" Shiemi brightened.

"I don't know. I don't know, but I'll do as much as I can! I can summon more than one. I'm pretty sure."

"How hard is it to summon your current familiar? I'd prefer it if you knew your limits…"

_I don't want to make her put her body under too much stress, _he felt. On the other hand…if she didn't, or couldn't, do what he had planned…then they would have to infiltrate the lab while the Illuminati were still awake. That could lead to fights. That could lead to them getting killed.

-_Your eyes will change again if you get close to death.-_

_That must not happen. No matter what._

"It's easy! I keep Nii with me all the time."

_Right. I always see her familiar crawling around. So…for her, that doesn't take up much energy. At all. That's quite a lot of power. This is good! Very good!_

"Then. Shiemi. Please, when we get there, summon at least 10 greenmen. And use them to summon plants. I didn't find enough gas for the entire base. You're going to finish the job with your greenmen. "

"Can you do that?"

…. "Yes!"

At around 8:15pm, the group arrived at the apartments only to find the door locked. Suguro was aggravated and struggled with the door, cursing under his breath. He knew nothing would come of it, but then he stepped back. Rin, meanwhile, was cursing audibly. Yukio's expression was hidden beneath his glasses, but his eyes contorted into an expression of annoyance.

"It's busy... So we should probably wait for someone to open the doors for us." Konekomaru sweated.

"We've waited long enough. I can just break in."

"Rin!" Yukio shouted out. "You'll draw their attention to us and ruin our chances at a sneak attack if you do that!"

Rin looked back and tched.

Yukio rubbed his temples, trying to relax.

"Then I just won't make noise."

Yukio froze, giving Rin an annoyed glare.

"Please go through the back then. If no one notices you come back and unlock the door for us. The rest of us might need a distraction." Konekomaru said.

Rin went to the backside of the apartment building. He found a dark window in the back on the side of the building. No one was home, good. He kicked his way through the window, wincing in pain as the glass scratched his body, and found himself in one of the apartments. The wounds from the glass closed quickly, and tiny splinters of glass that had initially made their way under the skin were pushed out immediately. The apartment was fully furnished and unnaturally untouched. Did someone live there? Was it owned? He wasn't a burglar, but this looked bad... He focused on doing his job. He went into the hallway, closed the door behind him, and went toward the front door.

On the other side of the apartments there was an entrance to a mall. Six Illuminati guards were there. They heard the crash and headed in that direction. They slowly entered through the window, although by that time Rin was already in the lobby.

Rin found a button that opened the door for the rest of the exwires. They walked in.

"Nothing?" Yukio asked.

"No Ironomike guys, no." Rin hadn't seen the ones in front of the mall area.

Konekomaru saw the guide/landlady in her office on the phone. Looking panicked, whispering, and directing her gaze at them.

"No! We were noticed!" he yelled.

Yukio's eyes widened as he looked over to the woman.

"Crap...! Was she from the Illuminati after all?!" Yukio pulled out his gun.

Rin was faster. He pulled out his sword and burst into the office.

"He just came into my office! He broke down the door! He just leaped 5 meters and he has a sword and I think I see a tail?! He set the door on fire with his mind and he's on fire! Please!" she yelled.

_He has red fire on his sword and a bit on his body…slightly pointy ears, a tail, and fangs? What is this guy?! I hope they come save me soon!_ She thought.

"Tell the Iririmote ...wait, this was supposed to be stealth. Put down the phone." Rin lowered his voice as he pointed his sword at her.

"No I'm not on drugs! Don't hang up, plea-"

Rin hesitated, not getting it. _'What is this?'_

The woman sobbed as she moved the phone away from her ear.

Yukio came in, and also had his gun pointed at her.

"How long until they get here?!" Yukio yelled.

"I don't know!" the woman said, trembling.

Suguro had arrived as well.

"You'll be bait and a hostage for when they come. Move!" Yukio twitched his gun.

"I'm sorry!" She begged. "I'll be your hostage or anything you want, so just don't hurt me please!"

"Good. Get up." Yukio commanded.

The woman did so.

'_What a coward!'_ Suguro thought.

"Let's just beat her for some extra information." Suguro cracked his knuckles.

"Firstly, call the Illuminati and tell them you took care of the attacker yourself." Yukio said, with his gun level at her face.

She whimpered. Then she gulped. "Um... Imm sorrry! I promise I'll be good!" she whined.

"Call them!" Yukio snatched the phone, looking up the redial history, finding the most recent number. He blanched, staring at the screen as he lowered his gun.

It was 119.

"You were on the phone with the police...?"

Not an unknown number, so not the Illuminati. She must have realized Rin broke in somehow, panicked, and called the police. A normal reaction for anyone. And then all of them had threatened her. This looked bad.

Also there was no question that having the police around would mess up the mission.

The woman cried more.

"EH?! The police?" Rin and Suguro exclaimed at the same time.

Yukio quickly got out his badge and ID.

"We're sorry for attacking you, we made a mistake. We're not burglars, and we have a reason for breaking in. We're exorcists with the True Cross Order. We have evidence that there's a demonically-oriented lab under this apartment complex. We don't have the resources to send any more people than this so we need to attack without alerting them. We also were unsure of if you were allied with them or not, and needed to treat you as hostile. Please cooperate with us." Yukio rattled out quickly.

The woman hadn't calmed down at all. Though, she did buy his story about demons, since one of the people in front of her was clearly not human.

"You have a gun! He has a sword! You're the freaking terrorists!"

"We're licensed to carry them." Yukio emphasized slowly.

"But you're not cops! You're kids with weapons who just broke into my apartment building!"

"The Japanese government has given us special privileges because they are aware we are effective at dealing with certain problems they can't handle. The police usually cooperate with us even if they aren't aware demons are real. Unfortunately we don't have time to ask for their help and don't know how far the Illuminati's influence reaches."

"I don't care about whatever authority True Cross claims to have! And, Illuminati?! Those world domination secret society people?"

"Yes! Wait, no! It's a new organization that borrowed the name. Look, I don't have time to explain it! We have to carry out our mission and leave." Yukio pushed up his glasses, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and sighed.

The landlady shifted on her feet.

The rest of them left the leasing office. She followed them.

Straight into the gaze of the six Illuminati soldiers who had entered.

"Oh, great! You're the guards! Please hel-"

One of the guards leapt over and knocked her out. Rin retaliated, sending them back with his signature slash. Kuro enlarged himself and pinned down the other two. Suguro knocked out another with a bazooka that he had been recently cleared to carry.

Yukio aimed his gun at the remaining Illuminati soldier. "You're going to help us."

Shiemi and Rin went pale. _'What the hell, Yukio?'_

This soldier, being a mook, on a payroll, with a family, complied with the man who had a gun to his head.

"Shiemi! Tie him up with your roots."

Shiemi summoned Nii, to tie the Illuminati man up with roots. Then she did what they talked about earlier in the day, using Nii to make circular roots around the vents. The roots broke through and anchored to the windows, traveling 10 meters away, a safe distance for venting out the air.

"Y- You don't need to do that. No one actually lives here. The ones that do won't be alive for long. Those rooms are just for show. You don't want to know what happens to the ones who are picked. Haha. Ha- haha." The Illuminati man laughed nervously.

Yukio pushed the gun closer to his head. "In case you're lying, we'll do it anyway." He responded.

Shiemi rejoined the others. "I'm ready!" She said, trying her best to muster unwavering confidence. Yukio had used a cram school key to bring out the grenades. He also put the landlady's unconscious body inside, leaving her at the academy for her own safety. Takara summoned 28 flying Mika dolls, taking them down to the bottom of the base one by one. Yukio told him to begin placing them from the bottom up, not to spread them out too thinly, and waited. He wouldn't explain anything until after Takara was done. Takara said he had finished. He had managed to make it up to the 6th floor.

"Then...we don't have enough?!" Suguro wondered.

"We just emptied the Order's entire stock. Even this will be spread out quite thinly. Put it in places where we know the air will circulate well. Furthermore, make sure we hit any security rooms and take out the people guarding the lab. We're going to supplement the gas with a Gehenna fungus known as Obidormio Inferni. It means 'Infernal Sleep.' We can draw wards that will protect us from the effects after we infiltrate the lab. Shiemi will need to summon the plant with her greenmen. Can you do what we discussed?"

"Yes!" Shiemi said.

She took out all of the summoning papers she had, and cut her finger. One by one, she summoned greenman after greenman, and they all popped out saying variations of their names.

"Nii!"

"Nuui!"

"Nee!"

"Neenee!"

"Niinii!"

"Naa!"

"Nunuui!"

"Naana!"

"Noi!"

"Noonoi!"

"Oooh! Cool!" Rin said.

So far so good, and she still had plenty of energy. _'I can do this.' _Shiemi thought as stared at the vent. She sent all 10 of her greenmen in. Noonoi was the last to go, and closed off the broken vent with more roots.

"The greenmen will start after we find the stairs down." Yukio turned his gaze to the Illuminati soldier. "Do you know where they are?"

He was quiet. Yukio put his gun closer to the man's head.

"There's nothing like that in here. But... There is a closed-off bunker a little south of here. That's one of the entrances. It is easier to get around if you enter from that direction than if you enter from the mall."

The soldier began to take them to the place he was talking about.

They arrived at a barricaded spot locked by a steel iron gate 3 meters high. Yukio marked them all with a ward that protected against earth-type demonic activity. Rin easily leapt over the gate and pushed it open for them. They soon found a little burrow, buried under the ground. Yukio shot the Illuminati soldier with a tranquilizer.

"Shiemi! Takara! Start now!"

Rin got in front of the others, guarding them, ready to face anyone who came out of the burrow.

On the first row, the familiars ran along, setting off the spores. They circulated throughout the first floor, hitting most of the members in seconds. The bunker door did open. Several Illuminati men rushed out and Rin and Suguro made easy work of them, kicking and hitting them with the back of their weapons.

The hallway was empty other than those six.

They rushed in, and closed the door behind them, preventing the contaminated air from escaping so it could knock out their enemies effectively.

The familiars, meanwhile, had continued their way down. The Illuminati had coughed and gagged and struggled as they felt their consciousness fading. There were many combat trained men there, but they were unaware of where the attack was coming from. The ones on the lower levels headed upwards, or tried, before they lost consciousness. People yelled.

"Someone's attacking! Warn the others! Warn the-"

One of the higher ranked officials was smart enough to call Lucifer before he was also knocked unconscious.

The attack had been reported.

But it was too late for the people in the lab, and the people who were in charge of security. The spores got to them before they realized, before they could make a lab-wide announcement. By the time word of the attack got out, most of the lab was unconscious. Word of the attack had been passed down manually. it took 12 minutes for each team to coat the entire base.

"How are we going to know if they were all knocked out?"

"We won't...!"

"We could get caught. So then, we'll have to fight head on after all." Suguro didn't exactly mind facing them head-on, either. But, there was one thing he was worried about. "What if we're caught by too many people at once?"

Yukio stopped.

"They have Shima there, right?" he stepped over one of the unconscious Illuminati members, pointing to him. "Even though we're a little young, we can play the part. They might not suspect anything."

Konekomaru and Suguro realized what he meant. "I see..."

Shiemi realized that maybe she had exerted too much effort with the spores. She felt exhausted. But she wanted to keep going for everyone else's sake. She felt bad about it too, and didn't want to be the one holding everyone back.

Rin had rushed a bit ahead. He reached the end of the hall and found a wide stairwell, circling around into the depths. He opened the door. Then he looked back to see that Yukio and the exwires weren't behind him.

"Hey?! Everyone?!"

Were they in danger?! Rin rushed back through the hallway, the way they came through. He didn't find them in that hallway. He stopped in front of the door.

"Everyone?!" he yelled again.

"Calm down, we're right here."

"Where did you run off to?"

Rin turned to find people in Illuminati jackets. Or, more accurately, his classmates and his brother in them.

"Uah" Rin pointed.

Yukio held up another uniform. "Put this on! You ran ahead before I finished explaining. It's better if we are able to pass unnoticed if some people are still awake... It will be easier if we look like this." He handed the uniform to Rin.

Rin squinted and sighed, taking the uniform. They waited for him to change before continuing down the stairwell. They reached the second level, and the third level.

"Wait! What about Shima?!" Suguro asked.

"He can wait. Let's find Kamiki first!" Yukio replied.

Shiemi grunted as she fell behind further, the running making her even more exhausted.

"Hey, are you okay?" Rin asked, concerned.

"I'm… fine!" And Shiemi tried her best to pretend to be.

"Are you sure? Do you want to go back?"

"No!" she insisted.

Rin could tell she was just being stubborn. He picked her up anyway.

"Rin!?" She gasped.

"Just leave the running to us!" he grinned.

Shiemi bit her lip. She did not want to be picked up and carried because she looked tired. If she had been stronger, she wouldn't have been tired in the first place.

Takara ran ahead, guiding them.

They reached the fourth level. And the fifth level. They approached the sixth level, and stopped as they saw movement. The six of them heard the approaching footsteps echoing in front of them. They had prepared to pretend to be part of the Illuminati themselves. That was not a possibility with the opponent who revealed himself to them on the 6th floor landing.

"Well. This is a pleasant surprise."

Bespectacled, freckled, and young. Even though they had seen his picture, neither Suguro nor Konekomaru recognized the man in front of them. He was a good 20 years younger than he should have been.

Yukio's eyes widened, and he gritted his teeth.

'_Toudou?!'_ he thought.

_This is bad._ _So he was here after all. Why is he still awake? He's not someone the exwires or I can face. _Yukio thought anxiously.

He wouldn't let his fear take him. The fear, bubbling beneath the surface. The reminder of what happened in Kyoto. His eyes. Mephisto's words echoed in his head.

_-Rin Okumura is not the only son of Satan on this mission.-_

"I have to say, I enjoy seeing you in our uniform, Okumura." Toudou said coolly.

"However, I suppose…it doesn't look like you've really joined us."

"Of course not." Yukio replied coolly yet with thick distaste in his voice.

He promptly unloaded several of the Naiad bullets into Toudou's face. It made him sick. He had kept one of his guns stacked with the bullets before the mission, just in case he encountered him. Toudou bled, his eyes and ears replaced by smoking, bleeding holes.

Rin looked back at Yukio's expression. Then at the man he shot, who he could feel was a demon. Then back at Yukio. Yukio knew this person. There was something strange in Yukio's tone of voice when he spoke to him. And he normally wasn't aggressive enough to shoot anything in the face as soon as he laid eyes on it. Even if it was a demon, and even if he was being weird right now. The only reason Rin could think of was that they had fought before. _'This guy. He did something to Yukio!'_

"Listen. He's a high level demon, this won't kill him. It took several fully qualified exorcists to take him down last time we met him. We need to run!" Yukio replied, in between shots.

'_Whether it's Mephisto or this guy, why am I never around to help when these things happen?' _Rin thought.

"No! I'm not running!"

He put Shiemi down.

'_Not this time. I need to make him pay.'_

Rin quickly overtook Yukio, and stopped when he was inches from Toudou, whose face emitted white smoke as it regenerated. Toudou's muscles were beginning to reform. But without ears, and without hearing, Toudou found that his balance was off. So when Rin swung his sword, Toudou attempted to dodge to the right but found he wasn't able to make it. Rin got a clean cut through his shoulder and into his human heart. Toudou coughed up blood. Rin fed his blue flames into the attack, the fire erupting around both of them. Toudou burned, and healed, and burned yet again. Rin was enraged, he wanted to make sure he killed this guy for screwing with his brother. Toudou crumbled into ash.

Yet, a voice rose up from the ashes. "How rude. Both of you brothers have that in common I guess."

"RIN! COME! NOW!" Yukio screamed.

The others, besides Takara, rushed up the stairs. Takara and Rin quickly followed.

One of the bodies on the flight of stairs above them rose up, as if it were attached to puppet strings. The body lurched, and then gained balance. A blonde tail trailed out behind it. The man gripped the handrail as he slowly walked down the stairs.

"I really do not appreciate you all coming in like this. On Samael's orders, I presume. It is Samael who is wrong, I must have you know. I give you one last chance to join us, or die here." Lucifer, in his new host, said as he motioned with his hands.

Rin's eyes locked on him. "….It's you! You're the Iromomike leader!"

Yet, Rin took two steps back down the stairs, backing up, reacting to the man's imposing presence. It was the atmosphere, the feeling of inapproachability, and the way he emanated raw power and an air of nobility that gave this demon away for who he really was.

"It's 'Illuminati!' Get it right!" Suguro corrected him angrily. Then he stopped dead. "Wait... The leader... Then… That's Lucifer?!" he mouthed.

Konekomaru, realizing how outmatched he was and learning from his experience with Amaimon, ran down the stairs as fast as his little legs could carry him. Yukio's eyes widened, realizing that the situation they had been thrust in was even more severe than he had predicted. He followed Konekomaru, and, seeing the two of them run, Shiemi followed after them with heavy breaths. Suguro stared him down, as did Rin. Suguro readied the bazooka he was carrying on his back. But only seeing the others run away, that Suguro and Rin decided to follow.

Only to encounter Toudou, fully regenerated, and walking up the stairs in front of them.

"How the hell is he alive?!" Rin exclaimed loudly. However, Rin immediately rectified that problem, sending Toudou up in another torrent of blue flame.

"He has really high regenerative abilities!" Yukio intentionally responded vaguely. "We should throw off this attack before he revives again." he added.

Lucifer sighed.

His body blinked out with a split second of blinding white light, and reappeared on top of them in an explosive flash of light and heat. It blew them back against the wall or onto the floor with force comparable to a bomb, injuring them all. Shiemi was blown back against the wall of the stairwell, under a '6th floor' sign and two and a half meters away from the door. Konekomaru collapsed onto the center of the landing, his body not built to handle the impact of the attack. He grunted and struggled, feeling the harsh pain, his skin smoking. Shiemi also struggled, but the impact combined with her exhaustion, she could no longer move.

The others fared a bit better. Rin notwithstanding, Takara was being driven by his puppet and the body kept moving regardless of what pain or damage was done to it, while Yukio and Suguro were both well-built enough to resist the impacts. Yukio had made it to the next set of stairs, so when the flash of light hit him, the momentum sent him falling down the entire flight of stairs and into the wall.

Rin hadn't been hurt much by it, when the light subsided, he was still standing. Whatever damage he sustained healed within seconds. But he was truly pissed.

"YUKIOOO! SHIEMIIIIIIIIII! KONEKOMARUUUUU!" Rin screamed. Seeing his friends hurt by Lucifer snapped the intimidation and hesitation straight out of him. The urge to kill Lucifer overwhelmed both of those.

Rin lunged at him. He leapt over the gap of the stairwell and onto the stairs in front of him. He swiped his sword at his head, only for him to dodge it. He decided to stick with more long range attacks, so he leapt backward with swiped at him with the sword again, this time sending a row of flame through the air at him. Lucifer easily brushed it off, but it burned his uniform, exposing his bare chest. Rin saw that he had burns on his chest and stomach, not from his flames but from something else. The decay was slowly expanding, millimeter by millimeter, over his body.

Suguro and Takara took Rin and Lucifer's exchange as an opportunity to drag Konekomaru and Shiemi over to the next landing down, joining Yukio. Suguro picked up Konekomaru, and Takara summoned a giant robot to pick up Shiemi and drag her down the stairs.

Regardless of the burns spreading across his chest, Lucifer did not slow down. He leapt in front of Rin, destroying the safety he had in ranged attacks. He grabbed Rin by the throat and threw him into the opposite wall, above where Shiemi had been several seconds ago. The wall dented with the impact. Rin fell down, coughing. His neck broken, and then unbroken, his demonic healing instantly fixing the damage and saving his life. Lucifer sent blasts of heat at him, exploding on impact.

"….Rin…?" Yukio said shakily. Rin was losing, clearly outmatched. He had never seen this.

Yukio was in the middle of treating Konekomaru and Shiemi. Coating them with holy water and aloe.

He was distracted by Toudou hopping down the stairs.

"Being in such close quarters with those two is mildly uncomfortable. Hello again, Mr. Okumura." He commented.

"Tou-?!" A grunt escaped Yukio, who bit his tongue.

That was enough of a clue for Suguro, who had recognized the hair before and was already suspicious.

"Huh?! That's SABUROUTA TOUDOU?!" Suguro exclaimed.

Then he glared at him and loaded his bazooka.

Lucifer leapt down the stairs, in front of Rin, hands on Rin's sword. Rin sent another torrent of flame at him. First he focused all of his power on Lucifer's hand. Lucifer lost the skin and some of the muscle on his hand, and loosened his grip on the sword. Rin pulled the sword away from him and expanded the area flame. He drew out everything he could. His nails elongated, and the flaming horns on his head began to fuse together. Rin could feel it, the instinct seeping up from inside of him. The desire to destroy everything. But this time he knew how to control it, and was able to keep his senses. This time, he remembered there was only one demon he needed to destroy. That instinct seemed to be satisfied with that. 'Destroy him, then. Burn him beyond recognition. Kill him, kill him, kill him!' The instinct told him. Lucifer backed up slightly and set off more of his light bombs. Rin responded by unleashing a torrent of flame, continuously fueling it in a funnel shape at him. Lucifer was fast enough to dodge, but he had nowhere to go except into the pit of the stairwell. He leapt over the railing and grabbed on to it with his remaining good hand, and sent another round of his light-bombs back at Rin.

Raising his voice over the noise of the fire, Suguro yelled.

"First Mamushi, now Shima?! This is your fault, isn't it?!"

He shot the bazooka at him, and Toudou didn't bother dodging, or moving, since he knew it wouldn't hurt him.

"I don't believe we've met before. With that hair...You are Ryuuji Suguro, yes? If Renzo Shima's betrayal is anyone's fault, it's yours."

Suguro was surprised for a second. It seemed Toudou hadn't seen him back in Kyoto, while he was hiding behind the banister in the branch office keep. He snarled again, and rather than take the time to reload the bazooka, he was so fueled with rage that he threw a punch at Toudou instead. Toudou caught it.

"Shima simply realized he would only suffer, remaining in Myou-Da with people who didn't respect or understand who he really was. I didn't manipulate him, and he won't go back to you."

Toudou squeezed Suguro's hand until he heard a crunch. Suguro screamed.

"In any case, I am in the middle of a conversation. Get out of my way."

Toudou let go of the hand and kicked him into the wall in front of him.

Yukio was deathly afraid, and his hatred for Toudou only increased with each passing second. "Stop toying with us!" He threw a holy water grenade at Toudou.

"Well, that hurts a bit too. I haven't had holy water on me before."

Toudou smiled. "But are you really sure you should play with that? Every time I meet you, I find that you have become more and more demonic. Resorting to using a fatal fungus to kill everyone here just to get then out of the way, despite them all being human. Actually, I am impressed by how ruthless you've become."

_'Fatal?!'_ Yukio thought.

Shiemi also heard. Even though she couldn't move, she was holding onto consciousness. _'...Eh I...am...killing...people...?!' she thought. 'I...kill...Nii...killed...Yuki...killed...why? Why?!'_ She was horrified.

She saw out of the corner of her eye, Rin leaping the stairs, moving through the explosions. She envied his strength... His innocent, un-bloodstained strength. Rin threw down the sword on top of Lucifer. The blade struck clear through his hand, but Lucifer shrugged it off, and the damage it was doing to him as he gracefully lifted himself up singlehandedly and kicked Rin in the chin. Rin flew straight into the underside of the flight of stairs on top of him. Lucifer acrobatically lifted himself onto the stairs below Rin and landed on his feet. The burning decay had spread all over his chest by this point. While the burned hand and the stab wound did not bleed, they did not heal either.

_'This body seems to have been a bad choice. I should refrain from using my power too much.' _He thought.

"Rin...?!" Konekomaru tried to shout out, but all he managed was a weak utterance. _'He's actually losing...he's supposed to be our trump card. But Lucifer will kill him if this keeps up!'_

"See, you have the behavior of a demon down perfectly, Mr. Okumura. But have you had any luck with 'that' lately?" Toudou said, causing Konekomaru to turn his attention to him.

Yukio had heard enough. More than enough. _'Be quiet. Just die horribly. Fucking die.' _Yukio shot at Toudou until he ran out of bullets.

Toudou shrugged it off and picked Yukio up by the scruff of his stolen Illuminati jacket.

"See, I am truly curious. And a little concerned. Your body may be changing at this very moment. Soon that holy water might damage you too. ...Whose power was that back then? Whose eyes were those?"

Konekomaru couldn't believe what he just heard. _'Wait…Does that mean Mr. Okumura is becoming a demon like his brother? What does Toudou mean 'whose power was that?' What does he mean 'eyes?' Is this…the fourth piece?'_

Yukio and Toudou made eye contact. Toudou's curious, malevolent look sent Yukio even further into desperation.

"DO SOMETHING!" Yukio yelled at Takara.

Takara remained motionless. Mephisto Pheles had ordered him not to interfere if Toudou tried to talk to Yukio. Yukio comprehended all of this, and realized Takara was showing his true colors. As to what those were, and to what their end objective was, and how far it went, he wasn't completely sure… _'Damn it damn it damn it!' _Takara was just as bad as Toudou.

"Filthy traitor. I hope you die too." Yukio said to him.

"Shut up already, would you?" The puppet said.

Takara moved his puppet. The Gundam he summoned moved over, toward Lucifer. While Toudou chatted with Yukio, Lucifer had caught Rin, thrown him down on the edge of stairs so aggressively Rin could barely move, and had moved his foot over Rin's neck. The stairs crackled under them. Rin felt several bones in his body break. Rin struggled fruitlessly, flailing his arms about and sending more flame at Lucifer. The fire roared around them, covering everyone in the vicinity. But only Lucifer was hurt by it. The rest of them itched from the flame, all realizing that Rin was going out of control a tiny bit. Lucifer grunted, and leaned harder on Rin to prevent himself from loosening his grip. He could not escape the fire, so he might as well make something out of it. The gundam leapt at Lucifer from in front of him. Lucifer unceremoniously punched it with his stabbed hand, and it crumbled to pieces.

"So he's so focused on Lucifer he's ignoring me? That's fortunate." Toudou said.

Yukio, out of options, put his hands around Toudou's neck and squeezed as hard as he could. He needed to do something. He had to.

"Dear, dear. Manners. I am not attacking you, am I? I _understand _you. They're cornering you, aren't they? Knowing the order, it seems that they've put you under a Morinas Contract. Clearly they don't value you. This is why I say you're blindly following the path of your father. Regardless of what happens or what it does to you. Why don't you just leave the exorcists? It's not good for you. It's not good for your brother either."

The fire roared around them, shading them both in blue. Catching on both of them for several seconds, and then loosening, returning to the swirl of flame.

"Because I am an exorcist! I want to do this! Just fucking die!"

Lucifer, in the middle of crushing Rin's throat, realized what Toudou was doing. If there was a possibility to convert his youngest brothers to their side, and Toudou could do it, Lucifer was more than happy to stand back and not interfere. This fight was wearing on his body. Frustratingly, the decay was spreading. Soon he would have to leave it, and return to Gehenna or find yet another vessel. The one he used originally was also becoming useless quickly.

He had the same problem as his father, Satan. It took longer, but any human vessel he touched would eventually burn apart from inside. This one was not lasting long, as he had taken the closest body to the fight regardless of how well-suited it was. Had he not been fighting, using his power, and being burned by his younger brother's flames, he might have been able to make the body last a bit longer. But things were working against him. He hoped Toudou would hurry up and successfully recruit them.

Toudou directed his attentions to Rin, wishing to continue his speech.

"I heard about the execution order, Rin Okumura." Toudou said to Rin directly after Lucifer had pinned him down. His voice echoed off of the stairwell walls. "You are never going to be able to earn their respect, are you? To them you're a dangerous demon, after all. You're the son of Satan, so no matter how well-meaning you are, you're a risk to those around you. All it takes is one time. Just one time, if you lose control and hurt someone…" Toudou motioned to Suguro and Koneko. "You will lose your friends. And at that time, you won't realize how horribly they really think of you, just like you didn't know a thing about Renzou, a thing about Izumo, or a thing about your brother."

Rin's eyes widened. That man was right. He _could_ lose control and hurt someone again if something ever happened. If he ever lost control of his emotions. Rin was the type to hide those feelings behind enthusiasm and determination. "SHUT THE HELL UP!" Rin yelled back.

Toudou's existence moved into Rin's consciousness, and he disintegrated again.

"Just like you've begun to lose control right now. That's what they feel." He said as he disintegrated.

Rin panicked. Right now? No, he wasn't! He wasn't at all!

The fire began to hurt the others more. It felt like coffee or hot water had been poured all over their skin. Not enough to leave any lasting damage, but Yukio shook with rage and a newfound sense of fear. Rin really was losing control. Facing Lucifer, he must have drawn on too much power to begin with! Toudou was only making it worse.

"Kuro! And everyone who can move, get the rest out of here!" He yelled desperately.

Suguro stumbled up with his crushed hand. Takara also summoned another gundam.

"No" Lucifer responded flatly.

Kuro went up in a flash of light from Lucifer, and he also collapsed on the floor.

"_RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG!" _Rin screamed desperately, petrified, with such a deep, bottomless concurrent pit of anger. Takara's Gundam was large enough to protect them all from the flame. They backed up against the wall.

'_If this goes on, Rin will lose control! If he doesn't have enough power to kill Lucifer immediately, then he'll just spiral down further!'_ Something occurred to Yukio. _'Maybe that's what this was about?! Did Sir Pheles intend for Toudou to get to Rin, instead of me? I was so self-centered…'_

'_I won't let him go out of control. I'll protect him. From his own power. Rin is suffering. I have to! Otherwise, we'll all die!'_

He moved out of the way of the Gundam and slowly waded through the flames, up the steps, to the landing in front of the door, and to the stairs where Rin was. Suguro wanted to follow, but Konekomaru grabbed him and shook his head.

"What are you going to do? Mr. Okumura is committing suicide out there."

Yukio feared for his life. '_We'regoingtodiewe'regoingtodiewe'regoingtodie'_ he thought hurriedly. He could still feel the blue flames hot against his body.

'_We're going to die…unless Lucifer burns to ashes right now!'_

'_Burn. To. Ashes.'_

'_Please!'_

Yukio desperately wanted this to happen. He felt something hot grow inside of him, and wondered what that feeling was. That harsh, unruly, uncontrollable feeling. What was he grabbing onto that simply refused to bend to his will? Seeing Rin, and believing Sir Pheles' true goal was to get to Rin, made him forget what would happen to his body if he felt his own life was in danger.

Like everyone else, he was enveloped by Rin's blue flames.

So when he also began to release his own flames, no one saw.

But once the power was triggered it simply did not stop. The flame that emanated throughout the hallway intensified and thickened. It was quick, and fluid. Thicker than normal fire, more liquid, and tightly knit together. The twins' flame intertwined and became a different beast entirely. Lucifer stopped and braced himself against the flame coming from all directions. It was really starting to hurt him now. The power from, and the pain caused by those blue flames just doubled out of nowhere. Lucifer looked over to Yukio, and thought to himself _'It can't be…'_

The combined flame blew Toudou, who had just finished reconstructing his body yet again, away. Lucifer's skin also began to peel away. Heat. Burning. Melting flesh. Lucifer was not the only one burning. Rin felt it too, his skin roasting. For the zillionth time today, he was grateful he was a demon and that he healed so quickly. Konekomaru, Shiemi, Kuro, and Takara all felt the atmosphere become unbearably hot around them. _'Rin's losing control. He's completely lost control!'_ They all thought.

'_Where is Mr. Okumura!? Is he dead?'_ Suguro thought.

'_Don't tell me…!' _Konekomaru thought.

The heat subsided after Lucifer tumbled away from Rin. It began to peel away. And then static. Laughing. Screaming. Whispers. Ghosts. Small, laughing heads grew from the walls and floors. To Suguro, Konekomaru, Takara, and Kuro, they only saw vestiges of these visions on top of reality, illusions that would disappear with a single blink. With Rin it was the same, but he had recognized those heads. They were the things from Gehenna.

'_Why am I seeing this?!' _Rin's desperation flooded through in his flames.

Lucifer and Toudou, though he was currently ash, were attacked by visions much more intense than what the exwires saw. An onslaught of meaningless sensation drilled into them, threatening to swallow them. Along with them were the headaches. The pressure.

It was enough to knock Toudou out and prevent him from regenerating fully, for the time being.

Lucifer was powerful enough to tolerate it. He fell backwards, dazed. Collapsed. But conscious. Rin's fire started to clear. And the sensations started to disappear.

"It _is_ you!" he said softly, fascinated, looking at Yukio.

* * *

_Thank you Superiordimwit, swiftstar, and themoonlandian! My awesome, awesome beta readers!_

_A/N:_

_Hell yes! Finally! Yukio has demonic powers! But it seems there's a condition. It might not be Yukio's power at all. What is Mephisto plotting? What does he want from him? :3_

_Okay So screw the massive powers explanation. Yes I am raising some red flags as a fanfic writer. I know. No, I am not stu-ing Yukio by giving him powers Rin doesn't have. Yes, I have a reason for having those extra powers in the story._

_People give Rin extra powers all the time and don't feel the need to justify it, so I deleted the blurb about what just happened in this chapter with the Gehenna heads. For those of you who missed it, you'll enjoy it more if you figure it out as you go along. Rin and the As-Of-Yet-Undetermined-Force-Acting-Through-Yukio (if it is not Yukio himself) have the same powers. These include all the ones that either brother has used canonically in the manga at this point, as well as some "new" ones. The "new" ones are closely related to canonical ones, or aren't a huge logic leap to expect them to do. _

_If it's Satan behind those eyes…Rin will have a problem. Otherwise, if it's Yukio, then he and Rin will be roughly equal._

_Just trust that I know what I am doing, OK? :) I have my stories beta'd by some very capable authors. They can (and will) catch any stupid plotlines/settings I write. _


	3. Hellhound (1)

_Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist, or a certain other manga with a rubber guy named Luffy in it._

_Chapter 3 – Hellhound (1)_

* * *

"It _is_ you!" he said softly, fascinated. "Why attack me? I thought my goal would be to your liking." Lucifer said.

Lucifer returned to his feet and brushed himself off. Those flames hadn't been fatal to him by any means. It was the _other_ attack which had stunned him, making him lose his balance and fall. It was hard to stay standing when he had lost complete control of his senses. What a silly outburst! But perhaps that was typical of _him._

"Why would you think that?" Yukio asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Because it is everything you have ever wanted and needed. Your ideal world." Lucifer hesitated. "Oh. It's you now. You're not the one I wanted to talk to." Lucifer detracted his cordial expression with annoyance. "Please disappear."

Yukio was stunned. He had no clue what the _hell _Lucifer was talking about, but it wasn't good news. He didn't even want to know. He dreaded knowing. Who did Lucifer want to talk to? Why did Lucifer, the King of Light, recognize him? Who was he? _What was he? _

He had felt some sensation inside of him before… Two, actually. One of heat, which slipped through his fingers into the dark recesses of his body as soon as he stopped consciously hanging on to it. After that disappeared, he felt another one of reaching out to everything around him, binding himself to it, and letting his corrosive influence ripple through it.

After those feelings surfaced, Lucifer had been blown back, and Toudou stopped regenerating. It couldn't have been Rin. Rin had been losing to Lucifer. His flames couldn't stop Toudou from regenerating.

This was the work of Satan's other son.

The one thing that must not happen.

The one thing he went to every length to avoid, no matter how cruel or ruthless it was. Taking hostages, threatening them at gunpoint, causing….._causing humans to die. _Using weapons he didn't know anything about. He had blood on his hands now. All so he could stay human. A jarring realization hit him. _Human? How far can you go and still call yourself human? _He was doing downright satanic things just to stay _physically_ human! And it didn't even make a difference! It was all for nothing! The change to his body was happening right now, just as Sir Pheles had wanted. A demon in body, and a demon in mind, that's what he was. '_Demon, demon, what a detestable loathsome demon you are!_' he could feel Toudou jeering at him. Or were those his own words? Damn it! Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. He had been so stupid!

Other possibilities began occurring to Yukio as he processed Lucifer's words.

-_Whose eyes were those?_- Toudou had said to him before.

-_You're all clear, as usual._- The doctor had told him yesterday, as she had done the day before, the week before, the _month _before.

-_You're__ not the one I wanted to talk to._-

He was one hundred percent human. Those eyes and those powers weren't his to begin with.

That was even worse.

So...what was it? Was he possessed? Was Lucifer trying to speak to a demon _through his body?!_ Except…when people were possessed, they blacked out, or they went crazy. When they were possessed enough to use powers, they had demonic features as well. He didn't. What the hell was that, then?! He didn't have the blue vision… but he certainly felt and did something that _wasn't human_. And HE was the one who used the power, both times.

How? That was impossible. Humans can't accidentally draw power from demons. Children of Satan -if that is what he truly was- can't do that either. He had more questions, and his mind was being consumed by them all. He was scared. So scared. Damn it, he at least wished he knew what was happening to his body.

Rin noticed that Irumichi-Guy was expecting something to happen.

"Yukio! Don't disappear, or whatever he wants!" He screamed desperately.

No answer, no assurance from his little brother.

"Yukio?!" Rin repeated.

Yukio was completely unresponsive. Looked to be mentally overloaded. One of Irumachi-guy's abilities? Like the Gehenna-heads? No...that wasn't it, he would know. Irumachi-guy, no, Luffy, wasn't doing anything right now. (His name was Luffy, right? Same as that rubber guy from that one manga? Probably not. ...Eh, close enough.)

In that split second, he remembered Shiemi saying that when they were studying together, she had to call his name several times before he answered…. Something has been truly, truly wrong with him, if _this _had been what he was like back then.

Rin's cries did not reach Yukio, who still stared at the ground in a blank, dazed, worried expression.

'_No. I don't want to stay in the dark about my own body. I don't want to be some strange middle ground between human and demon. Yet... I don't want to be the son of Satan, either. I refuse to accept it!'_

'_I refuse!'_

He felt something creep into his eyes, under his skin. He felt drawn to Lucifer. He could feel Lucifer's overwhelmingly familiar presence emanating from that body. Maybe he should really join him. Everything would be fine if he did. Then he would be happy. That's how it was meant to be-

Rin noticed his brother lift his gaze and stare straight at the two of them. The face he made was eerie, spine chilling, and uncannily different from anything Yukio had ever made before. Yukio's lips curled into a slight smile. That right there. That wasn't just anger or craziness. That was something else entirely.

Yukio stopped that invasive and distinctly alien train of thought as soon as he could. "Agh!" He let out a startled cry, recoiling from it. He covered his eyes for a few seconds. '_What did I just feel?! Why did I feel like joining him?! No. No, no no, I'm not! I'm not! I'm not I'm not I'm not! I'm not on his side, I'm not on his side. I'm not on Toudou's side! I won't give in! These people are destroying Assiah! They're evil! I won't be a demon! I can't let myself fall!'_

"Answer me! Snap out of it!" Rin continued screaming, his voice reverberating throughout the stairwell.

Lucifer felt disappointed, and then agitated. Well, it was too much to expect from that boy, anyway. It seems what had transpired earlier had been a fluke. Still, while he could kill the others, he had to keep Yukio Okumura alive. His little brother Rin was the only possible exception, since Father was still so interested in him.

Yukio stepped back into the hallway.

'_Yes snap out of it, Yukio. Snap out of it. Push your emotions down, like you always do. The exwires are depending on you. Rin is depending on you.' _He thought as he tried desperately to convince himself.

_As if he could do that._

Yukio fell down backwards, unable to stand.

Rin got up and headed toward him. The burns on his body were already healing. Lucifer grabbed his arm. Rin struggled again. This time, "Luffy's" grip was looser, but it was still too strong to wiggle out of.

He had get out of his grip to go help Yukio. '_Hurry and snap out of it, Yukio. I don't care what you're hiding. Just be OK.'_

Takara had seen Lucifer reach out to Yukio Okumura, only to reject him moments later in annoyance. Then Yukio Okumura cracked and spaced out for less than a minute, and Rin Okumura kept calling out to him without a response, and almost immediately tried to run over to him, only to be grabbed by an increasingly frustrated Lucifer.

Lucifer's contact with Mr. Okumura was something Mephisto Pheles ordered him to ensure occurred.

But Lucifer was not getting what he wanted out of the exchange, and since Takara was never informed of the reason it was occurring, he did not know if it was proceeding according to Sir Pheles' plan. He was also ordered to make sure the exwire students all made it out alive, and to recover Izumo Kamiki. Now that Lucifer's role was over, he must be distracted so they could proceed to the rescue. In the few hours before Kamiki was kidnapped, Mephisto Pheles cryptically said he would create an opportunity for just that. "Lucifer opens his heart to his followers, uncharacteristically of demons. He expresses messages of peace, of acceptance and happiness for all of existence. A noble message, and one that others will naturally be drawn to. Perhaps he truly cares, perhaps not~. But if nothing else, he must maintain that benevolent image for all of his subordinates. That is… not something I would feel inclined to prevent." At that time, Mephisto Pheles had smiled while glancing at him with hidden implications. Now Nemu Takara understood what he meant, what he wanted. What would allow this mission to succeed.

"Hey. I heard your skunk-stripe friend before. He said your subordinates were dying. It looks like that whatsits plant takes time to kill its victims, since clearly YOU'RE still moving. So something can be done to reverse the effects and save their lives. Now, if it were me, I would have no problem with letting them die, but since it's you, you might want to fix them before they all croak. We'll be busy fixing these weaklings too. They're all half dead. They're all losers who can't do anything. I am sure you can see that."

Lucifer hmphed. "How uncouth, boy." He left the body he was in. It crumpled to the ground.

Rin, as soon as Lucifer had left, shot like a bullet over to Yukio and grabbed him by the shoulders. The momentum toppled them both to the ground.

"Yukio! Are you alive!? Are you conscious?! Are you YOU?!" '_That expression he made….'_

"YES I AM!" Yukio screamed back. "GET OFF OF ME!" Yukio felt his vision turn blue. There. There it was. Again. Not a hallucination, he knew that now.

'_No. No. No. Not the eyes! Idiot. It's happening again. This is your fault, you walked right into it. And you're killing all of those people. You have just been making mistake after mistake. Father Fujimoto would never have let people die for stupid reasons-._

Rin also saw his eyes change and backed off. He felt some sort of …intimidation, or force come from those eyes, trying to bind him to its will. Demonic power. Why was demonic power coming from Yukio? Those were blue, flaming eyes. Satanic eyes. "Yukio….? Your eyes are…."

'_No. Not him too.'_ Rin thought. _'I don't want Yukio to deal with everything I've gone through.'_

"STOP TALKING ABOUT MY EYES!" Yukio snapped again. He closed them. Closed them until they felt normal. It took several seconds until the feeling subsided. "They're fine! My eyes are normal! We need to help the injured! I need to help the injured! I need to take the injured back to True Cross Academy!"

'_He knows…And it's bothering him…'_ Rin realized.

"You're not in the condition to treat anyone! I can tell!" Rin scolded.

Yukio tried very hard to suppress his emotions again. They were starting to subside a bit. He could manage them. Manage them! At least until he could get to safety, find something to do…

"I'm the only doctor meister walking. I need to treat them in a safe area, back at the academy."

"And what about Izumo!?"

"You can go find her along with any of the exwires still standing. Takara bought us time." Yukio answered.

'_Takara convinced Lucifer to leave. Takara just risked his life. Takara bought us time. Maybe Mephisto's plan was really just limited to…'_ Yukio thought bitterly.

"But …" Rin argued. No. Yukio was probably right. He was good at the doctor thing, while Rin was good at the burning thing. It was probably not a good idea to have Konekomaru, Kuro, and Shiemi there when they were injured like that…And not a good idea to let Suguro do the rescuing thing alone. Besides, if Yukio's awakening was only at this point, then….

Rin suddenly remembered his skin burning along with Luffy's, and Freckles-What's-His-Name was down for the count too. Then there was that crazy expression Yukio made. Could that have been Yukio almost going out of control? Like he himself used to?

Yukio's transformation had progressed _much farther _than a harmless little eye change, Rin realized with horror and fury.

"No! I've changed my mind! I am staying with you. We need to talk." Rin insisted.

"We can talk later."

"We. Talk. Now!" Rin was livid, his face dipping, his bangs masking and shading his glowing cerulean eyes. Flames erupted around him, at first soft but then growing in intensity, dancing and sparking around him. That demonic power he felt from Yukio before? Shades of it were still there. And Yukio clearly knew what was happening to him and it bothered him, yet he doesn't talk to him or rely on him for advice?

The thing he was hiding. For months. It was this. _This._

'_Are you kidding? Of all the things you should be relying on me for, you just clam up and hide it?! I can't believe it! What the fuck, Yukio?! I know how to handle this, and I know what's going to happen to you if you don't handle it properly! You're losing yourself already, I can see that! You're worried about me? You're the one in danger! And yet you STILL think I'm unreliable?! !'_

"You stay, I leave! Follow my orders!" Yukio yelled desperately. He was equally determined to get out of there and into safety. He needed to get away from this base, away from Rin, and away from everything. Find his way into familiarity. Fueled by his emotions, Yukio's vision went blue yet again. And this time, the flames in his eyes began to dance in a swirling, cyclonic pattern with three tendrils of flame rotating around the iris.

"I- I don't give a damn about your orders!" Rin yelled at him, his flares flying in all directions. Rin felt the urge to obey him again, but there was NO way he was going to listen. He defeated it, in his head. It wasn't THAT strong, nowhere near strong enough to overwhelm him.

'_Those look just like Satan's eyes.' _Rin observed. Those eyes, the same swirls were seared into his memory.

Rin's flaming body and Yukio's flaming eyes. The two of them tensed, staring at each other.

So the blue eyes were not going away, Yukio realized. Not this time. They were surfacing constantly. Getting stronger.

"Can't you both stop!?" Suguro interrupted. "Konekomaru's injured! Mr. Okumura's right, we need to get him and Shiemi back."

Yukio closed his eyes and waited for a few seconds. He recognized the feeling the eyes gave him, and knew when his eyes returned to normal. So he looked back at Suguro. "You're injured as well."

"I'm staying, since I can still move. What's a single broken hand? There's no way I'm gonna let you hog all the accomplishment to yourself! And we've gotta find Shima before he dies too!" Suguro looked determined, he wasn't going to let his wounds get to him and he wasn't going to let Shima die.

If he did, a certain teacher who ordered it would _pay_. No… either way, that certain teacher was about to have an after-school tutoring session with his (good) fist, as soon as he got close enough.

* * *

_Acknowledgements: Superiordimwit, Swiftstar, and themoonlandian, thank you for beta-ing my ideas and writing!_

_A/N: Well, that speed was unusual. I wrote this while I was writing chapter 2. This was originally supposed to be the first part of chapter 3, but I have decided to break my planned chapters into smaller chunks. From now on, I will be writing smaller chapters and updating more frequently. I'll also be separating things into arcs._

_Is Suguro in-character? I apologize if he's not. I'm trying, but I don't feel like I have a proper handle on his personality, and it's hard to write his scenes. (I could always use some advice.)_

_Right now I should focus on school. So I don't flunk all of my classes because I'm too obsessed with writing a fanfiction. _

_Please review!_


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